Method of manufacturing closed-link brake hangers



June 11, 1929.

F. SCHAEF'ER ET AL METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CLOfiED LINK BRAKE HANGERSFiled April 13, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS 91111611, 1929. F AEFERETAL 1,716,933

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CLOSED LINK BRAKE HANGERS Filed April 15, 1927 2Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 4 FIG 5 2 14 III III PIE 7 Patented June 11, 1929.

-UNITED STATES PAraNr o-FFicE.

rnnnnnic scnanrnn, or PITTSBURGH, AND WILLIAM A. KERN, or mwoon CITY,PENNSYLVANIA; SAID KERN AssmNon :ro SAID scnanrm.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CLOSED-LINK BRAKE HANGERS.

Application filed April 13,

The invention relates to the manufacture of closed link brake hangersfor suspending brake beams from the trucks of railway cars, coaches andthe like.

Closed link brake hangers havecust-omarily been manufactured by bendinga rod or bar to the desired shape of hanger and welding its adjacentends to each other. Because of this necessity of welding, the hangersmust be made of low carbon steel which cannot: be hardened by heattreatment to effectively resist the wear to which the hangers are subjected. Furthermore, it is desirable to have the yokes of brake hangersof greater cross sectional area than their arms so that the yokes mayadequately resist the wear to which they are subjected, in proportion tothe required strength of their arms. To effect this unequal distributionof the metal between the yokes and arms of brake hangers formed of rodsit is necessary to upset the portions of the rods which form the yokes,and such upsetting operations add materially to the cost of manufacture.

Theobjectofthis invention is to providean improved methodofmanufacturing closed link brake hangers so that they may be'formedfrom steel capable of increased resistance to wear, the brake hangersbeing free from weld joints and otherwise strong and durable, andwhereby this 'type of brake hanger may be economicallyfonned with aproper disposition of metal to effectively utilize its availablestrength, and whereby they may be made true in shape.

According to this invention :a closed link brake hanger is formed from asuitable blank by a succession of forging and expanding operations.While various initial forms of blanks maybe used, a cylindrical blank ispreferred, it having been found particularly suitable for the purposeamong other reasons because its shape is such that scale is quitecompletely removed during the forging op eration. In the first forgingoperation a cylindrical or other suitable blank is shaped in the form ofa parallelogram blank having ondsfor ultimately forming brake hangeryokes, and having sides for forming brake hanger yokes, the ends andsides being disposed at obtuse-and acuteangles to each other. The forgedparallelogram blank is then expanded into a rectangular or equivalentblank which in outline is substantially the shape of the desiredfinished brake hanger, and during 1927. Serial 183,823.

the expandingoperation the ends or the sides of the blank-are stretchedto remove any kinks which may be formed during the expanding operationso that the stretched portions will accurately fit the dies used in asucceeding forging operation. After this expanding and stretchinoperation, positely (l isposed members of the blank are subjected to astretching operation for the purpose just explained. The blank thusstretched is subjected to a final forging operation to shape it into thedesired finished form of a brake hanger.

In the preferred practice of the invention the "blank formed in thefirst forging operation has its yoke-forming ends of largercrosssectional area than its sides so that in the finished brake hanger theyokes may have increased oross sectional area to resist wear withoutthe'necessity of increasing the cross sectional area of the arms beyondthat required for service conditions.

The invention may be further explained with reference to theaccompanying draw-' ings, 0f which F ig. 1 is a face view of aparallelogram blank after the first forging operation; Fig. 2 atransverse sectional view of the blank, the plane of view beingindicated the line 11-11, Fig. 1; Fig. 3a plan view of the blank of Fig.1 when engaged by expanding tools, the expanded and stretched form ofthe blank being indicated by dotted lines; Fig. 4 a plan view of a blankengaged by the tools or stretching its sides, the stretched form of theblank being indicated by dotted lines; Fig. 5 a View of the preferredform of brake hanger after the final forging operation; and Figs 6 and-7transverse sectional views taken, respectively, on the lines VIVI :andVII-VII, Fig. 5.

In the first operation a cylindrical or other suitable blank is forged,preferably by a drop forge, into the general shape indicated in F 1 and2, the forged blank being a parallelogram :havingsides 1 and ends 2disposed at obtuse and acute angles, the sides being for the arms andthe ends fiorthe yokes of a finished brake hanger. In this forgingoperation, the excess metal forms flashing 3 which is suitably trimmedfrom the parallelogram blank before the succeeding operation.

After the forged blank of Figs. 1 and 2 is trimmed, expanding tools 5are placed in the opening formed between the ends and sides, and arethen moved to expand the parallelothe unstretched opgram blank into therectangular blank, shown in dotted lines in this figure as comprisingsides 1 and ends 2. parallelogram blank may be engaged for effectingthis expanding operation, it-is' preferred to engage the sidesasindicated. During this operation the members Which are not engaged bythe expanding tools, in this case the ends of the blank, are stretchedto remove any kinks that may be in the blank, or that may be formed as aresultof the expands ing operation, the stretching rendering the ends intrue form for the succeeding forging operation.

- In the next operation, illustrated in Fig. t, the ends 2 of therectangular blank are engaged by suitable tools v6, which are thenspread to stretch the sides 1 of the blank and thereby place them intrue form for the finalforging operation. V

. In the final operation the stretched rectangular blank is forged tothe desired finished form of a brake hanger having cylindrical sides 1"and yokes 2, as shown in Fig. 5.

This operation is effected principally for the purpose of shaping theends of the blank into elongate hanger yokes capable of being applied tobrakebeams now commonly provided with contracted slots for receivinghangers having yokes of this general shape.

Although the yokes may be of various shapes,

they may be of the asymmetric I-beam form shown. and claimed in, myPatent No. 1,470,121, or of the form illustrated in Fig. 6. As shown inFig. 7, the sides'l? of the hanger are preferably cylindrical.

While all of the forging and expanding operations may be done Withoutreheating between any of thesuccessive steps, it is preferred to permitthe blank of Figs; land 2' to cool before removing the flashingresulting from the first forging operation, and to then reheat theparallelogram blank for succeeding expanding, stretching and forgingoperations, all of which may be done Without further reheating. v

In the first forging operation resulting in the parallelogram blank ofFigs. 1' and 2, the. cross sectional area of its yoke-forming I ends 2is preferably greater than that of its arm-forming sides 1. By makingsuch disposition: of the metal-.in the initial forging operation, theresulting brake hanger is provided'vvith yokes having increased. crosssectional areasto effectively resist the Wear t which they aresubjectedin service.

1 It is charactertistic of the invention that a brake hanger may beformed of relatively high carbonsteel capable of being heat treated toincrease its resistance to Wear. the brake hanger is formed Without Weldjoints, and may have yokes of increased cross sectional area without.the necessity ofv an upsetting step such asrequired in the manufactureof-closed link brake hangers from rods.

While the ends of the.

' the metal of its ends.

Also,

effected by varying the amountof stretching of the sides of the blank asexplained With ref erence to Fig. 4:. I I

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explainedthe principle and operation of our invention, and have illustrated anddescribed the preferred manner of practicing it. However, We desire tohave it understood that, Within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as particularly described andillustrated. I 7

We claim asour invention: I

,l. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers,.comprisingforging an elongate blank into the form of a parallelo gram blank havingends for forming hanger yokes and sides for forminghanger armsdissimultaneously expanding the parallelogram I blank into a rectangularblank and stretching the metal of two, of its oppositely disposedmembers. r

2. The method of' manufacturing closed iink brake hangers, comprisingforging an elongate blank into the formof a parallelogram blank havingends" for forming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger arms 'd1sposed at obtuse and acute angles, expanding the parallelogram blankinto a rectangular blank, stretching the metal of its sides, and forgingthe rectangular blank into the. form of a finishedbrake hanger. 1

3. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprisingforging a cylindrical blank into the form of a parallelogram blankhaving ends for forming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger armsdisposed at obtuse and acute angles, and then simultaneously expandingthe parallelogram blank into a rectangular blank and stretching 4. Themethod of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprising forging anelongate blank into the form of a parallelogram blank having ends forforming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger arms disposed atobtuse and acute angles, simultaneously expanding the parallelogramblank in to. a rectangular blank and stretching the metal oftwo of itsoppositely disposed members, and thereafter stretching the other two ofits oppositely disposed members.

5. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprisingforgingan elongate blank into the form of a parallelogram blank havingends for'forming hanger yokes-and sides for forming hanger arms disposedat obtuse and acute angles, expanding the parallelogram blank into arectangular blank and simultaneously stretching the I lOl) metal of itsends, thereafter stretching the metal of the sides of the rectangularblank, and finally forging the stretched rectangular blank to the formof a finished brake hanger.

6. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprisingforging an elongate blank into the form of a parallelogram blank havingends for forming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger arms disposedat obtuse and acute angles, the ends being of greater cross sectionalarea than the sides, and simultaneously expanding the parallelogramblank into a rectangular blank and stretching the metal of its ends.

7. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprisingforging an elongate blank into the form of a parallelogram blank havingends for forming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger arms disposedat obtuse and acute angles, the ends bein of greater cross sectionalarea than the sides, simultaneously expanding the parallelogram blankinto a rectangular blank and stretching the metal of its ends, andthereafter stretching the metal of the sides of the rectangular blank.

8. The method of manufacturing closed link brake hangers, comprisingforging an elongate blank into the form of a parallelogramblank havingends for forming hanger yokes and sides for forming hanger arms disposedat obtuse and acute angles, the ends being of greater cross sectionalarea than the sides, simultaneously expanding the parallelogram blankinto a rectangular blank and stretching the metal of its ends,thereafter stretching the metal of the sides of the rectangular blank,and finally forging the stretched rectangular blank to form its ends.

In testimony whereof, We hereunto sign our names.

FREDERIC SCHAEFER. WILLIAM A. KERN.

